Tag: dream

When I picked up Alice in rush hour on a Tuesday, the first words out of her mouth were, “It’s been a long day. I can’t wait to get home and have a glass of wine.” After that, she was planning to watch the Bachelorette.
I’m not one to watch the Bachelor or the Bachelorette or to admit to watching it if I did. Yet Alice pointed out this season was different. After 20 seasons of the Bachelor/Bachelorette, this was the first time they had a black woman (or any minority for that matter) as the Bachelorette. This was because a person of color became the director of content at the studio. Alice felt it important to support the decision to have a minority in the starring role, because if the ratings suffered, we might not see that again. I can respect that. If you feel the same way, set your DVR to record the show and support diversity on television.

“Can you guess,” she began “after 20+ seasons of the Bachelor and Bachelorette… how many of the couples are still together?”

“I have no idea.”

“Only ONE of the couples is still together! I guess it’s not realistic to fall in love in two months. Most of the time, they don’t even get married. At the end of the show, they get engaged, but I think only one third of the couples follow through with the wedding. The girl gets a crazy engagement ring because… sponsors, but she doesn’t get to keep it unless they’re together for 3 months.”

“That’s… that’s not true love. That’s like a contract… a business arrangement. Maybe I’m too idealistic.”

“You definitely are. Imagine if you and I were the couple, and after three months being ‘together’ you get half the money from the sale of the ring…”

Rewinding a bit, my first job out of college was what many consider a dream job. I was a video game reviewer for GameFan magazine. My ‘job’ was to play video games that had not been released yet and write about them.

As we continued chatting, I found out Alice had the female equivalent of my job. She was an editor of beauty products, so companies sent her makeup and she had to write about it. I pointed out she had the dream job… something most people would love to do.

“Yeah…” she agreed. “But there’s two downsides to it. 1) They know there’s a ton of people who would want to do this job 2) So they don’t have to pay you much.” I know that feel, Alice. Working in print journalism for video games for many years, believe me, I’ve been there, done that.

“So when I had the dream job, people would always ask me the same question, ‘How do I get a job doing what you’re doing?’ or ‘How did you get that job?’ For me it was a combination of right time right place and knowing the right people. I met a friend through a Street Fighter tournament, and when his work needed a copyeditor, I was there. What about you? How did you land this job?”

“Well I didn’t study writing and didn’t think I was going to be doing it. After I graduated college, I was ready to conquer the world!”

“Wait, are you a millenial?”

“Yup, definitely a millenial. My parents wanted me to get a J-O-B, so I contacted a recruiter. Previously, I’d interned at a studio, and then she noticed they were looking for an Executive Assistant. I got that position and did it very well for a couple years. I committed to it 100 percent. After a while, my boss noticed I was getting bored, so he asked me what I wanted to do… and that’s how I ended up here.”

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